Chesser told
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents that he became interested in
Islam in July 2008. In his 2008 book on terrorism, Brachman coined the term "jihobbyist" for people such as Chesser, who are fascinated by Islam or
jihad but were not members of recognized terrorist organizations. By 2010, Chesser had created a
YouTube account called LearnTeachFightDie, and a website called the mujhidblog.com. He corresponded by e-mail with
Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical American Muslim cleric who was then in hiding in
Yemen who U.S. officials allege has encouraged
homegrown terrorism. Al-Awlaki was later targeted and killed in a drone strike because of his role in
al-Qaeda attacks against the United States. In 2009, both friends and members of the Islamic Center of Northern Virginia noticed that Chesser's views were becoming more extreme; he had conservative ideas about
dress customs. An older member at the Islamic Center said he tried to broaden Chesser's views of the Islamic scriptures, but that Chesser took too narrow a view of them. Revolution Muslim was one of the few American websites to praise the
Fort Hood Shooting in 2009, in which a
U.S. Army psychiatrist killed fellow U.S. Army soldiers. The post included the business addresses of likely targets of retribution, including
Comedy Central, which airs the comedy show, and Parker and Stone's production company. Chesser threatened the
South Park creators on a variety of other online platforms, including his blog and
Twitter pages. Chesser wrote, "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo van Gogh if they do air this show", a reference to the 2004 murder of
Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker, by a Muslim extremist. ==Legal proceedings==